Telling Chinese Stories From "The Other’s" Perspective

This thesis is a study about telling Chinese stories from the perspective of the“other”,taking Ryo Takeuchi’s documentary series The Reason I Live Here as an example.This study uses Zang Guoren’s framework theory as the analytical framework.The sample episodes,which is 94 in total number were selected from three seasons of the documentary series and the samples are analyzed and interpreted from three levels.Three research questions are addressed:(Q1)What themes does Ryo Takeuchi choose to present Chinese stories from the perspective of “the other”?(Q2)What narrative perspective,strategy,and style do Ryo Takeuchi’s documentary take to tell Chinese stories?(Q3)What are the typical symbols used in Ryo Takeuchi’s documentary to present aspects of the Chinese story?At the very beginning,the identity of the director Ryo Takeuchi is explored.By combing through the existing materials of Takeuchi,his identities are concluded as(1)the “other” of China;(2)the “other” of homeland;and(3)an intercultural person.His identities enable him to travel between different cultures and become a communication bridge.Furthermore,his identities are the advantage of him to tell Chinese stories.Audiences are willing to watch,listen and believe in Chinese stories told by him because he is considered more objective and authentic than local Chinese.Then the interpretation of the documentary based on the selected samples started from exploring the themes of the documentary,which is related to the Q1,and the results are concluded as(1)eliminating prejudice and stereotypes;(2)forging intercultural relationships;and(3)portraying life of the ordinary people.Then the narrative perspectives,strategies,and styles are explored to address research question 2.The findings show that Takeuchi combines the first-person narration and third-person narration to tell each Chinese story,switching omniscient perspective and protagonists’ perspective is switching in the process of telling these Chinese stories.In this way,the director and the interviewees can mutually make supplements to each other’s stories thus making the story more convincible.Thick description and “stranger” narration are the narrative strategies adopted.The “Other”fully plays its role in storytelling in that it improves the authenticity and objectivity of the Chinese story.Daily life narration is the narrative style of the documentary.Chinese stories equal to the life story of the interviewees in China.The lifelike narrative style brings everyone back to their own lives and thus resonates with the Chinese story.At last,the typical symbols in the documentary are listed and analyzed to answer research question 3.The typical symbols presented in the selected samples can be categorized into four types: economic symbols;traditional cultural symbols;landscape symbols and food symbols.These symbols show a multi-dimensional China and represent modern China,historical China,spectacular China,and flavorful China.